GE 13 Watt Energy Smart Soft White Spiral T3 Light Bulb, 3 Pack #16460

Customer Reviews

To me, indistinguishable from incans

2008-04-23
I have replaced about a dozen bulbs in and around my house with these and their 100w-equivalent brethren. In the fixtures where they're appropriate, they beat the incandescents hands-down, as long as they last as long as they're supposed to, which remains to be seen.

With these bulbs there are a few caveats, and here's where my input will hopefully help prospective customers:

1- Do NOT use these bulbs, or any CFL bulbs, where they will either be switched on-and-off frequently or left on for less than 15mins or so. The long life of these bulbs presumes that they are not flicked on-and-off every time they're used... Which in my case means I have not installed them in my garage, closets, or certain overhead lights where they're used only long enough to find something in that room and then immediately switched off. They're best suited to long-burning fixtures like some people's basements, garages, outdoor fixtures, kitchen & living room lights and the like.

2- These bulbs are also not suited to very cold outdoor temperatures. Above 5-10degF or so they're fine, but below that they'll never really come up to temperature and full light output. I have standard CFL units in all my outside lighting fixtures but replaced them with the old incandescents for about two weeks in the dead of winter when it was simply too cold outside.

3- Be prepared for the bulbs to take a little bit to come up to full light output. With CFL bulbs this is just the way it is... And the colder it is, the longer it'll take for them to come to full brightness. In a room-temperature environment it's typically under 10secs but in freezing temps it can take the better part of a minute. You quickly learn to plan ahead and turn the lights on before you need them... For instance, if you know the pizza guy is coming, turn them on ten minutes before he shows up and turn them off when he leaves, you're still burning less electricity than the two minutes you would have them on if you wait for him to show up and then flick on your incandescents (and you have the benefit of helping the guy find your house!).

In the end, as long as you put these bulbs in appropriate locations they'll do the trick quite nicely and you won't recognize that they're CFL bulbs even with side-to-side comparisons with the outgoing bulbs. I am pretty sensitive to lighting conditions but I honestly can't tell the difference between these GE CFL bulbs and standard "soft white" bulbs in either color or intensity.

I just hope that they do, in fact, last as long as they're alleged to by the manufacturer. So far, after almost a year, all the bulbs are going strong and I know for sure that I've paid for them already by way of reduced electrical bills. I recommend these (and the GE 100w equivalents) very highly... Especially if you get them for the vastly lower price I found for these items in a local LARGE retailer as compared to the price on this listing. I recall having bought 6-packs of these bulbs for the same price as the 3-pack in this listing, or under twenty dollars for 12-packs.

Off To A Good Start

2008-03-23
I picked up a 3-pack of these the other day at a local retailer (better pricing). They went into table lamps that are shaded so you can't tell what type bulb is in use, so they are not obvious. The only difference noticed is that these are rated to be equivalent to a 60-watt incandescent. Even though the lumen rating for the CFL is higher, the actual light output seems a bit more dim. It's a very slight difference and within an hour of installing them I'd already adjusted to the difference.

Now let's wait for the bill from the electric company.

Energy saver light

2008-02-15
I'm waiting to see how much it would decrease my elec bill. I know it will. The design allows to use it instead of most regular bulbs.